[Exede] Getting rid of Exede as quickly as possible!!

I live out in the middle of nowhere, and decided to give Exede a try when I was told there was free installation and a 30 revocation period. Exede works tolerably on clear days but is AWFUL most of the time. Their usage is all screwed up - you get charged when the modem goes into a loop trying to get a clear signal to the satellite ... I went through multiple gigs when I was unable to even get on the internet. I tried to cancel the account on day 26 and was told the 30 grace period was only for people switching from WildBlue. I will pay the $400 to cancel the contract and consider myself lucky to get away from this Mickey Mouse crummy service. Do NOT get this internet, even if you live in the middle of nowhere.

The modem loop usage problem has been documented by a number of Exede users. And it is quite frustrating to be charged for data that you never used. On top of that, no resolution from Viasat or even acknowledgement of the problem.

Well the problem is not going to go away by itself...and the fact that they are now losing customers because of it is pretty sad.

Exede got $400, first month's payment and the TRIA and modem returned for nothing. The installer was probably paid. eialbur got lied to, his pocket picked, to mail the equipment back, a satellite dish and maybe some holes in his house. Exede won.--Wildblue Value Pack, beam 31, Riverside gateway

If you think Viasat still makes out when losing a customer, the cost of adding a new customer costs hundreds of dollars. And the early cancellation fee does not come close to covering that cost.

They make their money through the monthly user fees. The less accounts...the less money.

That being said, Viasat's customer service is pathetic. Long hold times and no real resolution of the issues. It looks like their approach to service is the customers are all a bunch of idiots and our product is perfect.

I forget to list the activation fee that substitutes for the installation fee. I wonder if eialbur got tricked by that old scam used by cable companies. He may need to wait a month to get his credit card bill.

Certainly Exede is making profit with the early termination fee. They pay the installers less than $400 per job and activating an account in their computer system probably costs a few dollars with the long distance telephone call being the most expensive component.--Wildblue Value Pack, beam 31, Riverside gateway

"It costs ViaSat a total of around $700 to sign up each new customer. Two-thirds of that figure is the cost of the broadband satellite equipment. The remaining costs are divided about evenly between marketing and advertising, and sales commissions."

Who is kidding who. This is not a toilet seat purchased by the Pentagon. But from someone who knows design and manufacturing of comms around the world. I told you before. If you have a PC on your desk, then the odds are in my favour that somewhere on that desk you are using some of my past work.

If you don't know what it costs then don't throw sums about. If I told you, it's less than $100 to produce the equipment then believe it and that's being way over generous. The Dish for example is less than $9.00. $21 shipping of a one off from across the world and that's what I can buy it at not the cost to produce. It's the cost of the Satellite being recovered not the ground based equipment. So no, it doesn't cost $700-$800 to sign up a new user. The only outlay is installation of the dish, in other words, time, the supply of the modem and dish, both of which they get back on cancellation, which then gets resupplied, reissued, so no loss there plus a couple of minutes to connect your account.

Now they probably offer under Contract a fairly decent price to install, $80 but that's cut and cut again. The guy actually doing the work probably makes no more than $20 or less if it's anything like the guys who upgrade cellphone towers AND that's hard and dangerous work compared with a sat dish which is a walk in the park.

When YOU start manufacturing and know the actual cost THEN feel free to quote figures but until then you are giving the impression you are working for THEM

I can understand a new users frustration, I came from the real world to US satellite when I married into the countryside. Having used equipment in more than 23 countries, yes Sat included in some of those countries, even Exede doesn't compare with so called slower systems others offer. When I switched over to Exede, I had 3 weeks solid dns failure on any site needing a log in. Never did get logged in, not once. Now I just get unresponsive server errors one click in every 5. You ring Viasat, hang on hold for an hour OR more, get no further, I spent 6 hours waiting at my expense the week after installation It did work for the first half day then they updated the firmware then errors began, occasionally you get told you will be called back, IT never happens so I leave my house, take my laptop or Mobile across the road, stand in the rain and bingo, I have 4G. But summer is coming so all's not lost.

By the way, it's not a dig at you, it's just that after 40 years in the business I have become cynical at the BS that floats around the industry

Who is kidding who. This is not a toilet seat purchased by the Pentagon. But from someone who knows design and manufacturing of comms around the world. I told you before. If you have a PC on your desk, then the odds are in my favour that somewhere on that desk you are using some of my past work.

If you don't know what it costs then don't throw sums about. If I told you, it's less than $100 to produce the equipment then believe it and that's being way over generous. The Dish for example is less than $9.00. $21 shipping of a one off from across the world and that's what I can buy it at not the cost to produce. It's the cost of the Satellite being recovered not the ground based equipment. So no, it doesn't cost $700-$800 to sign up a new user. The only outlay is installation of the dish, in other words, time, the supply of the modem and dish, both of which they get back on cancellation, which then gets resupplied, reissued, so no loss there plus a couple of minutes to connect your account.

Now they probably offer under Contract a fairly decent price to install, $80 but that's cut and cut again. The guy actually doing the work probably makes no more than $20 or less if it's anything like the guys who upgrade cellphone towers AND that's hard and dangerous work compared with a sat dish which is a walk in the park.

When YOU start manufacturing and know the actual cost THEN feel free to quote figures but until then you are giving the impression you are working for THEM

I can understand a new users frustration, I came from the real world to US satellite when I married into the countryside. Having used equipment in more than 23 countries, yes Sat included in some of those countries, even Exede doesn't compare with so called slower systems others offer. When I switched over to Exede, I had 3 weeks solid dns failure on any site needing a log in. Never did get logged in, not once. Now I just get unresponsive server errors one click in every 5. You ring Viasat, hang on hold for an hour OR more, get no further, I spent 6 hours waiting at my expense the week after installation It did work for the first half day then they updated the firmware then errors began, occasionally you get told you will be called back, IT never happens so I leave my house, take my laptop or Mobile across the road, stand in the rain and bingo, I have 4G. But summer is coming so all's not lost.

By the way, it's not a dig at you, it's just that after 40 years in the business I have become cynical at the BS that floats around the industry

Dude, you are so far wrong in MOST of the assumptions that you made in this post that your credibility is now NON EXISTENT. Some other dealers on here know the actual numbers for customer acquisition and you are way, way off. Sounds like you're unhappy with the service, sorry about that, but that doesn't change the numbers.

"It costs ViaSat a total of around $700 to sign up each new customer. Two-thirds of that figure is the cost of the broadband satellite equipment. The remaining costs are divided about evenly between marketing and advertising, and sales commissions."

Because they get the modem and TRIA returned to them with shipping paid by the customer (victim), it is $467 less than that amount plus a little bit for the power supply and dish.

$49.99 first month service fee for 7,500 MB/month or 10,000 MB/month package$9.99 first month lease fee$149.99 activation fee$35 shipping$400 early termination fee$467 return of modem and TRIA-$30 power supply and dish not returned----------$1081.97 value acquired by Exede which exceeds the cost you are asserting for acquiring new customers. Exede is profiting from losing customers.--Wildblue Value Pack, beam 31, Riverside gateway

$400 early termination fee-$30 power supply and dish not returned----------

Sales commission (for resellers) and installer's cuts are unknowns, but I know some appliance stores charge $150.00 for truck roll, which includes one hour of service time. And truck rolls outside of a city include a mileage charge for many businesses.

Marketing cost is an unknown per customer...as Dish Network news clip indicated, they laid out 118 million and "the company only lost 10,000 net subscribers in the three-month period ending June 30, as opposed to the 135,000 subscribers it lost during the same period in 2011."

If Exede has quality control, then modem/tria must be checked and repackage...people to check, repackage, and ship...$$$.

"Exede is profiting from losing customers," but it sours other potential customers when they hear of the "horror story," which may or may not be true if dish was installed correctly, and if consumer's expecations were in-tune with DAP, etc.

Exede does not get rich on loosing customers, and I really doubt more than a handful quit within first month.

When OP states, "but is AWFUL most of the time..." there must be an installation issue.

Further, OP has not attempted to trouble shoot potential issues...so, this is really another "rant" post with no verification if an issue exist with Exede's system or his installation. Chances are, its another bad install.

The OP is also warning others about being lied to about being able to terminate the contract during the first 30 days without penalty and his DAP meter counting while the modem is trying to connect with the gateway. Those are not related to a bad installation.

Has just flashed in here with a rant...his termination beef, to be blunt, is his contract issue...Read before signing...or as law officers like to say, "its the law." Just like all those people who signed sub-prime loan papers, and then couldn't afford it later, its their problem, not mine.

Having a bad install (weak dish point) can also result in many sat-modem re-connections. Even windy days can take out a mis-pointed dish very easy.

Hence, no attempt by OP to see if other issues existed...the old "I know" OP posts. He never established if a technical issue(s) existed.

Re: [Exede] Usage tracking questionable

I live in no man's land too and held hostage by satellite providers, past three yrs by Wildblue and now Excede due to their acquisition of Wildblue. Well we struggle putting up with their poor ability to track usage. I value my bandwidth, track it every two days and plan my usage to stay within my monthly plan. Usually I have or give away extra bandwidth. This mo I had 3.5 gigs of bandwidth left with two days left I thought. On feb 26th I checked usage and knew I had the 3.5. I am a web designer and worked hard on 27th publishing/uploading. When I checked for usage that afternoon I got the dreaded message "Oooops we r sorry message ck back later. Same thing fri morning the 28 th. so sat down fri nite thinking I'd enjoy that last swig of bandwidth I'd paid for and guess what? Yes, they had already reset my usage and stole it from me. Don't u think a Midnight rollover is fair? Well with technology of today, it's unacceptable. Well u now know how to play their game. Use it before they steal it from u. Very unprofessional as an organization and they don't attempt to make it right!

...held hostage by satellite providers...Well we struggle putting up with their poor ability to track usage....On feb 26th..web designer and worked hard on 27th...dreaded message "Oooops....thinking I'd enjoy that last swig of bandwidth I'd paid for...they had already reset my usage and stole it from me....Well u now know how to play their game.....Use it before they steal it from u.... Very unprofessional as an organization...don't attempt to make it right!

Hey about nine slams in one post...not bad! Are we having a problem?

Here: "Please send us an email at exedelistens@viasat.com with your name, address and a phone number where we can reach you"

Meters are reset at midnight GMT on the day of your billing date. What this means is it will actually occur several hours before midnight local time on the day before your billing date.

Also, while not confirmed...the time between midnight GMT and 5:00am local time on the first day of your billing date is all unmetered. So even if you see your meter reset at say 7:00pm local time the day before you are suppose to reset....you can use that extra 5 hours PLUS the 5 hours LNFZ and never see a byte of that usage showing up on your meter. Please keep in mind this is not for sure...but try some tests yourself and I think you will find this to be the case.